Rodentia

There’s a debate around here about which of our rodent friends this young’un is. There were at least ten of them strung out along about thirty feet of paved path in Prospect Park recently, most of them with their eyes still closed, some not moving, others scurrying regardless of their eyelids. I don’t know what the heck happened to result in them being there, when they should have been still tucked away in some nest or nook.Even with eyes closed, this one found something to eat. It turns out that mice and baby rats are similar looking. They are, after all, related. I got 10/12 on a first pass at this mouse/rat test. But were these rats or mice?Luckily, the three dogs that came through while I was there were all leashed, as they are always supposed to be in the Ravine. I moved several of these little rodents off the path, depositing them together.

Baby rats. The only reason they would be out of the nest that young is if their mother was dead. While they are incredibly resilient animals, their chances of survival outside the nest at that age are very slim. Thank you for having the compassion to try to keep them safe from harm. They are part of the natural world, part of the food chain, and it would be nice if the hysteria around their existence would calm down.